


Bright as Blossom

by LostCauses (Anteros)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:55:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29406570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anteros/pseuds/LostCauses
Summary: Erwin finds himself struggling through a long hard winter, but it's the smallest gestures from his captain that brighten his spirits.
Relationships: Levi Ackerman/Erwin Smith
Comments: 16
Kudos: 271
Collections: Eruri fics I love





	Bright as Blossom

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zorthania](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zorthania/gifts).



> I posted this fic for all the Katsu Eruris, but really I wrote it for dear Zorthania ♡

It was the smallest things. Erwin barely even noticed at first. Like his ink well, which never seemed to run dry. It always appeared to be clean and replenished. Erwin couldn’t remember the last time he had cleaned out his ink well. Maybe he was just getting more careful with age? Or the gas lamps. He was sure it had been weeks since he last trimmed the wicks, but when he checked, they were all neatly trimmed, the mantles clean and free from soot. Maybe it hadn’t been that long since he trimmed them after all? Who knows. Erwin was finding it increasingly hard to keep track of time, the days blurring one into another. 

It had been a long, long winter. They were well into February and the walled world was still held in an endless icy grip. Normally at this time of year they’d be planning the first expeditions of the Spring, but the ground was still blanketed in snow and the temperatures were too low to risk going beyond the Walls. If anything went wrong, the cold would kill them faster than the Titans, and that’s not a risk Erwin was willing to take. So instead, they waited out days that passed as slow and sluggish as sand in a cracked hour-glass. 

At first the Corps reveled in the freedom afforded by the annual break from expeditions, but as the winter dragged on with no sign of spring, the soldiers started to get restless. Erwin knew how quickly inactivity could lead to disaffection and indiscipline so he was grateful that the captain had devised a new training regime that kept the Corps occupied from dawn to dusk, leaving them little time or energy to do much more than collapse into their bunks at the end of the day.

Erwin himself had more than enough work to keep him occupied. That wasn’t a problem. However the dispatches and reports were piling up on his desk, neglected and unanswered. Somehow he couldn’t find the motivation to respond. Erwin had never been much of a winter person. The cold weather and short dark days made him sluggish and somber and this year a black mood had settled over him like a cloud, making the simplest tasks a daunting challenge. 

Erwin sighed as he surveys his desk in the grey morning light, admittedly it was less chaotic than he expected. He was sure he’d left it in a mess the previous night when he finally abandoned the report he’d been trying to write for several fruitless hours. He swore quietly as he picked up his pen, the nib had cracked days before and it scratched irritatingly on the paper. It should have been the simplest thing to fix, but he’d run out of replacements several weeks previously and somehow he had never got round to sending down to the stores for replacements. It was just another one of those small mundane tasks that seemed to elude him of late. But as Erwin lifted the pen he stopped. Instead of the old cracked nib, the pen was tipped with a brand new silver scrolled nib. 

He was still staring at the pen in bewilderment when the door opened and Levi entered wearing full gear and carrying a coffee pot, a somewhat incongruous sight. 

“Levi. ” Erwin smiled. Seeing the captain always seemed to lift his spirits a little, despite the man’s perennial short temper. 

“Brought you coffee.” Levi placed the coffee pot on the desk with a little more force than necessary. 

“Thank you Levi, you didn’t need to do that.”

“It’s nothing,” Levi said. “I was passing anyway. I’m on my way out to put the brats through their paces.” 

Erwin tilted his head but said nothing. The captain would have had to make quite a detour to have reach his office en route to the training ground. 

“Did you replace my pen?” He asked instead, holding it up before him. 

“Uh yeah,” Levi frowned. “Noticed it was broken when I dropped some reports off last night and I had a spare in my pocket so...”

“Since when do you carry around spare pen nibs?” 

“Why shouldn’t I?” Levi snapped, crossing his arms defensively. “I can write you know.”

“Of course Levi, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply…”

Levi’s writing skills had been somewhat rudimentary when he first joined the Corps, but he had applied himself diligently and before long he had learned to write with an elegance that would have put the court clerks of Mitras to shame. 

“And the lamps?” Erwin asked. “And the ink well?” 

But Levi just scowled furiously.

“I’m going in to town this afternoon,” he said, changing the subject. “Want to come?” 

“I’d love to,” Erwin sighed. “But I’ve got to sort out the problem with the last consignment of blades that were delivered. They’re well below standard. The armorer is blaming the foundry, the foundry is blaming the supplier of the ore, no one wants to take responsibility. It’s a mess.” 

“Want me to go and beat someone up?” Levi asked dryly. 

Erwin laughed mirthlessly and shook his head. 

“It’s tempting, but I’m not sure that would help.” 

“Suit yourself.” Levi shrugged and turned to leave. 

Erwin was still at his desk when Levi returned late in the afternoon. 

“You’re coming down to the mess for dinner tonight.” He announced unceremoniously. 

“I’ll just send down for something,” Erwin replied vaguely, rubbing his temples in a vain attempt to ease the headache that had been plaguing him all afternoon. 

“No.” Levi replied firmly. “You wont. You’re coming down to the mess even if I have to drag you there myself. And don’t think I won’t. Mike’s got a bottle of brandy he wants to get rid of and Hanji got a fruitcake from fuck knows where. 

“Oh? What’s the occasion?” 

“No occasion.” Levi replied. “You’re turning into a fucking hermit up here.” 

“Well, I suppose I could come down for a half an hour or so…” Erwin agreed reluctantly.

Half an hour turned into an hour, and an hour into several more. By the time Erwin made his way up to his quarters he was decidedly unsteady on his feet, but he had to admit that he felt lighter than he’d done for weeks. The camaraderie and spirits had lifted the black mood that had plagued him for weeks and his only regret was that Levi had excused himself from the company shortly before they drained the last of Mike’s brandy. 

Erwin woke the following morning with a dull headache and a mouth full of ashes but the warm afterglow of companionship remained. Despite his aching head he felt rested and alert and he made his way to his office determined to make the most of his improved spirits. As he pushed open the door and stepped into the room Erwin stopped in his tracks. Sitting on his desk, among neatly stacked piles of reports and papers, was a vase of yellow flowers, their slender green leaves and golden trumpets as bright and fresh as the pale sunlight that streamed in through the high windows. Erwin stared at them mesmerized, as though seeing colours for the first time after a long spell of darkness.

Erwin had already completed unequivocal missives to the armorer and the foundry as well as his monthly report to Zackley when Levi appeared mid-morning with a pot of coffee. 

“How’s the head?” He asked, placing the coffee carefully on the desk. 

“I think I’ll live.” Erwin smiled ruefully.

“That’s good.” Levi nodded. “We’d be fucked without you.” 

“I believe thanks are in order.” Erwin gestured towards the flowers. “These are beautiful.” 

Levi frowned and shrugged. 

“Where did you get them?” Erwin continued, running his fingers over one of the delicate blossoms. “I didn’t think anything was growing yet.”

“Merchant in town brought them down from Hermina. They said spring always arrives early up there.” 

“I don’t deserve you.” Erwin replied with a smile.

“Yeah you deserve a lot better.”

“Levi…you know that’s not what I meant.”

“Well, tough shit you’re stuck with me, anyway.” Levi retorted, lifting his chin defiantly. 

“I’m glad. I’d be lost without you.” Erwin replied with as much sincerity as he could muster, and was rewarded by a bright pink flush that spread across his captain’s cheeks, brighter than any blossom.


End file.
